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Keywords: varstvo gozdov, morfološke analize, Geosmithia morbida, bolezen tisočerih rakov, qPCR, Juglans, program preiskav
Published in DiRROS: 30.08.2024; Views: 233; Downloads: 0
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Abstract: The cholinergic system has been implicated in postural deficits, in particular falls, in Parkinson’s disease. Falls and freezing of gait typically occur during dynamic and challenging balance and gait conditions, such as when initiating gait, experiencing postural perturbations, or making turns. However, the precise cholinergic neural substrate underlying dynamic postural and gait changes remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate whether brain vesicular acetylcholine transporter binding, as measured with [18F]-fluoroethoxybenzovesamicolbinding PET, correlates with dynamic gait and balance impairments in 125 patients with Parkinson’s disease (mean age 66.89±7.71 years) using the abbreviated Balance Evaluation Systems Test total and its four functional domain sub-scores (anticipatory postural control, reactive postural control, dynamic gait, and sensory integration). Whole brain false discoverycorrected (P < 0.05) correlations for total abbreviated Balance Evaluation Systems Test scores included the following bilateral or asymmetric hemispheric regions: gyrus rectus, orbitofrontal cortex, anterior part of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, cingulum, frontotemporal opercula, insula, fimbria, right temporal pole, mesiotemporal, parietal and visual cortices, caudate nucleus, lateral and medial geniculate bodies, thalamus, lingual gyrus, cerebellar hemisphere lobule VI, left cerebellar crus I, superior cerebellar peduncles, flocculus, and nodulus. No significant correlations were found for the putamen or anteroventral putamen. The four domain-specific sub-scores demonstrated overlapping cholinergic topography in the metathalamus, fimbria, thalamus proper, and prefrontal cortices but also showed distinct topographic variations. For example, reactive postural control functions involved the right flocculus but not the upper brainstem regions. The anterior cingulum associated with reactive postural control whereas the posterior cingulum correlated with anticipatory control. The spatial extent of associated cholinergic system changes were least for dynamic gait and sensory orientation functional domains compared to the anticipatory and reactive postural control functions. We conclude that specific aspects of dynamic balance and gait deficits in Parkinson’s disease associate with overlapping but also distinct patterns of cerebral cholinergic system changes in numerous brain regions. Our study also presents novel evidence of cholinergic topography involved in dynamic balance and gait in Parkinson’s disease that have not been typically associated with mobility disturbances, such as the right anterior temporal pole, right anterior part of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, gyrus rectus, fimbria, lingual gyrus, flocculus, nodulus and right cerebellar hemisphere lobules VI and left crus I.
Keywords: Parkinson’s disease, dynamic balance, cholinergic, PET
Published in DiRROS: 30.08.2024; Views: 255; Downloads: 497
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Abstract: Ethylene response factors (ERFs) have been associated with biotic stress in Arabidopsis, while their function in non-model plants is still poorly understood. Here we investigated the role of potato ERF StPti5 in plant immunity. We show that StPti5 acts as a susceptibility factor. It negatively regulates potato immunity against potato virus Y and Ralstonia solanacearum, pathogens with completely different modes of action, and thereby has a different role than its orthologue in tomato. Remarkably, StPti5 is destabilised in healthy plants via the autophagy pathway and accumulates exclusively in the nucleus upon infection. We demonstrate that StEIN3 and StEIL1 directly bind the StPti5 promoter and activate its expression, while synergistic activity of the ethylene and salicylic acid pathways is required for regulated StPti expression. To gain further insight into the mode of StPti5 action in attenuating potato defence responses, we investigated transcriptional changes in salicylic acid deficient potato lines with silenced StPti5 expression. We show that StPti5 regulates the expression of other ERFs and downregulates the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway as well as several proteases involved in directed proteolysis. This study adds a novel element to the complex puzzle of immune regulation, by deciphering a two-level regulation of ERF transcription factor activity in response to pathogens.
Keywords: ethylene response factor, immune signalling, potato virus Y, Pti5, Ralstonia solanacearum, Solanum tuberosum, susceptibility factor
Published in DiRROS: 29.08.2024; Views: 227; Downloads: 656
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Abstract: Rivers are spatially and temporally heterogeneous systems that are susceptible to changes due to anthropogenic influences. These can significantly alter water quality and river communities, including macrophytes, which are involved in nutrient cycling, energy flow and sedimentation processes, and provide habitats for other organisms. The presence, abundance, and distribution of macrophytes can thus serve as indicators of the state of aquatic ecosystems. Rivers that flow (partially) underground are particularly susceptible to (human) impacts from the hinterland due to their lower self-purification capacity. Using a modified RCE (a Riparian, Channel, and Environmental Inventory) method, we classified the Rak River as first or second RCE quality class, and the Obrh River as second or third RCE quality class. According to the River Macrophyte Index (RMI), the ecological status of both rivers was moderate, good or very good, except for the first section of the Obrh, the status of which was assessed as poor. The ecomorphological preservation of both rivers and suitable conditions for macrophyte growth contribute to the high species diversity observed in both rivers: a total of 36 taxa were recorded in the Obrh and 38 in the Rak. In the latter, the presence of Myriophyllum verticillatum L. was recorded for the first time at the time of our sampling. Almost one third of the species in each of the rivers are listed on the Slovenian Red list of threatened pteridophytes and seed plants, supporting the evidence of their high naturalness and emphasizing the importance of appropriate management of karst watercourses.
Keywords: karst, macrophytes, RCE method
Published in DiRROS: 29.08.2024; Views: 230; Downloads: 203
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Abstract: Aim: Marginal tree populations, either those located at the edges of the species' rangeor in suboptimal environments, are often a valuable genetic resource for biologicalconservation. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the genetic consequencesof population marginality, estimated across entire species' ranges. Our study ad-dresses this gap by providing information about several genetic indicators and theirvariability in marginal and core populations identified using quantitative marginalityindices.Location: Southwestern Europe and North Africa.Methods: Using 10,185 SNPs across 82 populations of maritime pine (Pinus pinasterAit.), a widespread conifer characterised by a fragmented range, we modelled therelationship of seven genetic indicators potentially related to population evolution-ary resilience, namely genetic diversity (based on both all SNPs and outlier SNPs),inbreeding, genetic differentiation, recessive genetic load and genomic offset, withpopulation geographical, demo-historical and ecological marginality (as estimated bynine quantitative indices). Models were constructed for both regional (introducinggene pool as a random factor) and range-wide spatial scales.Results: We showed a trend towards decreasing overall genetic diversity and increas-ing differentiation with geographic marginality, supporting the centre-periphery hy-pothesis (CPH). However, we found no correlation between population inbreedingand marginality, while geographically marginal populations had a lower recessive ge-netic load (only models without the gene pool effect). Ecologically marginal popula-tions had a higher genomic offset, suggesting higher maladaptation to future climate,albeit some of these populations also had high genetic diversity for climate outliers.Main Conclusions: Overall genetic diversity (but not outlier-based estimates) and dif-ferentiation patterns support the CPH. Ecologically marginal populations and those atthe southern edge could be more vulnerable to climate change due to higher climate maladaptation, as predicted by genomic offsets, and/or lower potentially adaptive ge-netic diversity. This risk is exacerbated by typically small effective population sizesand increasing human impact in marginal populations.
Keywords: population genetics, conservation genetics, marginal populations, Pinus pinaster, genetic indicators
Published in DiRROS: 29.08.2024; Views: 230; Downloads: 481
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